100 Greatest Leeds Players Ever

It is always a thankless task selecting the “Greatest” anything, as people are influenced, sometimes by favouritism from a popularity point of view or simply by the fact that the players were from an era before a person started supporting the club and in many cases before they were even born. Their judgement is clouded accordingly. Leeds United published their own 100 greatest players on the official website back in 2005. Presumably from some kind of poll?

Looking for our favourites, sure many were there, but where was Tommy Burden, club captain and inspirational leader, veteran of over 250 games for LUFC. Wilf Copping English International, 150+ appearances, Tom Holley, stalwart centre half 169 appearances (excluding War-time). I looked at Rio Ferdinand with 50 games, Eric Cantona even less at 25, Imre Varadi 23 games, John McClelland 22 league games, David Rocastle and Chris Kamara, less than 20, Tomas Brolin and wondered where the priorities lay.

To us, a player's greatness is a reflection of his abilities and achievements as a player for LUFC (or representing his country etc, when a LUFC player). It should not be swayed by unpopularity or the fact some perceive them as a “Judas” nor by the division which Leeds were playing in at the time.

So, we asked the users of four of the main Leeds United forums at the time, Marching On Together, WACCOE, WeAreLeeds and Leeds Chat who they thought were the greatest Leeds United players ever. They were asked to give a list, (Maximum 100) be it top 20, top 50, or whatever and score: 100 for No.1 down to 1 for No.100, or 100 for No.1 and 81 for No.20 etc.

As with all votes and polls you will never get a true opinion, merely a generally acceptable consensus of the valid voters. Over 164 players were nominated to give us our final 100 but in the time that has passed since 2005 nearly 200 more players have donned the white shirt of Leeds United. It has not been a period of glory for Leeds United but there have been some stand out players. Some of those who were fresh in the memory when the initial vote was taken may have faded over the years too. As such we have updated the 100 Greatest Leeds United Players Ever in time for 2019, our centenary year.